An Essay of Dramatic Poesy

The setting for Dryden’s dialogue concerning the state of English theater is a telling one, and it functions as an extended metaphor: The conversation—a metaphorical war of wits—takes place amidst a literal battleground as the Dutch take on English naval forces. War was omnipresent in Dryden’s life and work: The long and tragic English Civil War, the artistically stifling Puritan Interregnum, the contentious Restoration of Charles II, and the many disputes over what it means to be an author during such an age reverberate throughout his poetry, plays, and prose. “An Essay of Dramatic Poesy” is no exception, and the companions commence their conversation on the subject because they are certain that the current battle will occasion much mediocre poetry. The actual naval skirmish triggers a discussion that pits the ancients against the moderns, the French against the English, and the role of rhyme against plainer speech.

Crites emphasizes this metaphorical battleground most clearly when he argues for the superiority of the ancients’ poesy: “They had judges ordained to decide their merit, and prizes to reward it; and historians have been diligent to record […] both who they were that vanquished in these wars of the theater, and how often they were crowned” (156).